Wow! You and I are definitely cut from the same stuff, Poorman! I was at that stage until I joined HNI and now BH.COM ... I was blown AWAY at what I didn't know!!! The problem was the time I could spend afield due to 2 full time jobs ... Now I just need to get some deer within bow range and not blow it ....with all the vacation time, I know I will ... gotta stop making rookie mistakes .... looking forward to hunting with Rob and Chris ... I want to hunt elk with Will (hopefully next September) ... and for the first time, I am looking forward to hunting alone ... I took my buck during shotgun last year that way and it was an awesome feeling ... great thought provoking post, Don ...
First a compliment to Rob on expressing where he is at so well.Personally I have always been of the opinion that if you put the work in to any endeavor the results will follow.That rings true for me with hunting also.I just concern myself with doing the things necessary to be successful.I enjoy every element of it and I expect that I will get my opportunities to take the game of my choosing. I am selective as a buck hunter,I don't want to shoot small bucks,I don't see them as challenging to kill.If I don't see what I want and I eat a tag so be it.The experience of being out there and all that comes with it is enough for me.I have become more conscious about taking doe's and looking only to take them from area's where they are plentiful.
Well like most that have been deer hunting for 30 years.. The first 23 with Gun (Muzzle-Loaders and Rifles). I have run the gauntlet. I shot anything with horns for the first 10 or so years. (no point restrictions back then). I have only taken 2 doe, my first deer ever, with a .45 caliber Flintlock Muzzle Loader up until a couple years ago when I arrowed a doe for the freezer. Which brought my lifetime "doe" total to 2...Of course this doesn't count the 4pt DOE I took in Buck season back in the early 80's. Then in a time when no one was passing up bucks in PA, our camp started a "no spike rule", Dad and I progressed from there and started passing on lesser bucks. Honestly, this was before the internet and we knew no one passing deer, people thought we were either liars or fools. Than Dad took a 120" Buck, It was a life changing event. As it hung on our deer pool at camp, strangers, passing by, would stop and come see it. The school Bus driver stopped the bus and walked over. Dump truck drivers..etc. I saw the excitement and respect a buck of this caliber possessed. I was hooked. Quite Honestly I hunted for a few years passing up deer, waiting for a buck that may not have even existed in our parts at the time. A fault I may still be some-what guilty of at times. Somewhere in the midst of this big buck transition, I decided I needed to take up bow hunting to allow me to pursue them longer and stealthier. In that first year I took a respectable 8 pt. I had started out green in bowhunting no one had done it in my family. It was relearning what I knew but in a different way. Different tactics. I eventually beat Dad's buck with a 136" 11 pt..but it was in part due to his deer that got me to that point! Where am I now? Well I keep learning..I still want bigger. But I have to learn where to draw the line so I'm not hunting that fantom deer or settling on one too small.. I'll have a picture in my minds eye, and when I see one that fits that picture...He'll get the shaft!
Well, I have been hunting for 9 years, and actually seriously hunting for 4 years (when I started bowhunting, I got serious) Ive taken a few bucks with my rifle, and a few does with my bow, but I am by no means a good hunter yet, I'm just alright. I keep trying to learn though and growing from experiences, just trying to improve. I am in the process of planting three different food plots, soybeans for now and the winter crop is going in 6 weeks from now. I am just looking for a buck that I would shoot with my rifle to take with my bow, and now a couple of bow only spots have really made me evolve. Im in earlier, quieter, just waiting. Then when I leave, I exit off to the side where I wont spook some. Granted I havent harvested a nice buck yet, I get better every year, with myself seeing more bucks and putting myself in more situations to connect. I passed one last year that I wouldve taken the years before, because I estimated him at 2.5 with a broken rack. I was just as content to watch him. I don't really know what stage I am at, I just know I like it better than the one I was in when I started.
No it was a public-land PA deer shot in Rifle season. The first year antler restrictions came in (2001) so it didn't benefit from any years of being protected. I have 2 buck in the 130's neither is a bowkill and many smaller, 90% of which never saw a tape. I don't (yet) have a bowkill big enough for P&Y minimimums.
I am in a place where I am totally happy with whatever I get out of my time in the woods. I was lucky when I started out hunting and had good success early on. I took my first buck with a rifle on my first day of hunting, after spending less than 15 minutes in the woods. Since that first day, I have changed my attitude on hunting entirely. I became obsessed with big antlers... hell, anymore that is what your hunting skills are judged by. Everything about hunting went from the experience to big antlers. I fell into it and realized that after passing on bucks that I would have been happy with (because they weren't that bruiser that everybody respects), I wasn't getting the same enjoyment out of hunting that I did when I was younger. I missed that excitement I felt at the first flicker of a tail in the brush or that twig breaking behind me. I was too worried about if it was a buck, and even more on what he was holding on his head. After sitting back and thinking about it, I decided to go out with a new attitude to get my enjoyment back to where it once was. Now when I am hunting, I have no set goals, I wing it everytime I set in stand. I don't want or need any goals or limits as they do nothing for me but cause my level of enjoyment to decrease. I like being able to sit in a stand and know that at any moment, any buck could come out and if I felt like it, I can shoot it (well, as long as it is a legal buck). Last season I passed on several bucks with my bow and ended up killing a smaller buck later in the year simply because it felt right. Antlers are no longer going to dictate when I kill a deer, for me it is more about the timing. If I don't feel like it, I may let a 110" buck pass just to arrow a 80" buck several days later when the mood was right. I have kinda done things backwards compared to most others, but I think that I was brought up alot different than most of the hunters out there now. I was brought up on hunting.... not archery hunting, not rifle hunting, not muzzleloader hunting.... I wasn't a specific lable... I was and still am, just a hunter. My family was all about going out and having a good time and shooting deer... that was the reason we were out there. We didn't need antlers so we could beat our chests and declare ourselves the best hunters out there.... just wasn't our style, and I am happy that I have went back to that way of hunting. I have killed some big bucks, and some small bucks, but I have enjoyed every single one and thats what really matters to me! I know that there are some bruiser bucks on our properties, and I have had people on the boards question me for shooting smaller bucks when the big guys are there... I just couldn't care less about them.. sure I love the big antlers, everybody does, but I refuse to let that alone dictate what I shoot and how I view myself as a hunter!
What stage? I feel like I'm not quite to the middle of my hunting career...been at it about 15 years. Started off being happy with any deer, had some success on nice bucks, which led to antler addiction and some years of unfilled tags. Now the HUNT is more important than the game or outcome. I hope each year to top my best buck - but no pressure. I'll take does each year because I still do enjoy that and it's a must for our herd...but more than anything SHARING now with family & friends it what I enjoy most. Hunts with my Dad, occasionally my brother. Hosting friends at our place or public land hunts with them. Doing all I can to hopefully be my kids full-time guide someday...it's really just the love of "being out there" now. Beyond enjoying every chance I get with family and friends...I plan on moving into the stage of using bowhunting to full-fill daydreams of hunting other game in other areas...I love to travel, I love natual beauty, and I love to take animals with my bow, SHARE the hunt, SHARE the stories, SHARE the meat...Elk will be the first such trip in 2010...first of many I hope...thanks to Will's encouragement. ...down the road Moose, Sheep, Goats to name a few...Alaska as well. I work hard at everything I do in life...but I'm learning as I age to enjoy it all regardless...eliminate the negatives in my life...encourage the positives...and always laugh (one of the best gifts my big family has). Good post - always good to assess...
I remember moving from Hawaii to Virginia my sophomore year in high school. By the time I was a senior in high school I still had never even shot a gun which was weird because my dad was a Marine Colonel and could shoot about any weapon you placed in his hand, and still can. My dad and I bass fished like crazy and he is still one heck of a bass fisherman. I used to read books at an insane rate and got locked onto Native Americans and the Lewis and Clark expedition when I was 16 and 17. So I got bit by the hunting bug 17years ago. I begged my dad to buy me a gun and he refused...again which was weird because he taught us to fight, box, sneak around, and knife fight off and on..hahahaha! Finally he relented and bought me a Winchester .3030 lever action rifle. I went down and sat through a hunter education class with a friend of mine and we received our licenses after the second full day of class. I hunted for 3-4 years before killing my first deer. I hunted the heavily hunted public grounds of Virginia. I tried my best but I did not know how to dress for the cold, did not have a climbing stand (until my 4th or 5th season), and really had no idea what I was doing. I probably saw less than 5 deer in the woods in a 3-4 year period. I never actually thought about quitting but I felt like the worlds worst hunter. Finally I befriended a guy in college (whom I am still friends with today) and he invited me to come hunt with him on his property in Loudoun County Virginia. It was and still is one of the best places I have ever seen hunting wise. After hunting for 4 seasons and not killing a deer, I killed two bucks on one day while hunting at my friends private property. I was on cloud nine. That same year I went out in a snow storm on the last day of the hunting season and killed a doe with buckshot from a new shotgun my dad had given me for the holiday season. I climbed an old pine tree and fastened myself to the tree with an old belt. I called in that doe with a fawn bleat. For the next few years while I was in college I killed a few deer here and there with rifles and shotguns. Once I graduated from college I really started picking my hunting up and from the grace of god I found an awesome public land spot only 20 minutes from where I live. The deer started dropping as I gained knowledge and became more stubborn. I would hunt in the rain, snow, and in the freezing cold, I did not care. I was possessed and would run myself sick trying to learn how to kill deer. I failed miserably many times. I picked up my first bow in 1998 or 1999, can't remember. I didn't start hunting with it until 2001. For the next 3-4 years I killed deer at an increasing rate with shotguns, rifles, muzzleloaders, and my bow. About 2005 I made the choice to lay down my guns and only take my bow into the woods. My hunting buddy thought I was crazy. I told him something felt right to me about hunting with a bow. My current mindframe or stage is to hunt hard for my first mature buck. If in my pursuit of a mature buck, a deer passes that I feel like shooting at that moment, I do it. I pass 90% more deer than I used to, even as compared to just 5 years ago. I am really looking forward to hunting outside of Virginia this year in NC and possibly KY with some good hillbilly boys. And..."bowhunting is fun, everyone should try it".
I'm in the....traveling is more important to me than whitetail hunting here at home. Hunting the same ole places gets boring after a while. A trip or two a year across the country hunting a completely new species or just a new state for whitetail is EXTREMELY fun and the direction I will keep heading. I am in the complete the North American Deer Slam stage, and I am not sure what I will go for when I complete this, as it will likely take several years.
It doesn't have to be, but for me it will be. Just a dream of mine. All 5 species recognized by P&Y. Ideally they would make the minimum scores, but I just want a "nice" buck of each regardless of score. Hoping to knock off two more legs of it this season, leaving me with Columbian Blacktails, and either Mulies or Coues deer for the 2010-11 season. Mainly because deer are relatively the cheapest of animals to hunt, especially doing it DIY. Heck, Arizona trip in January shouldn't cost me more than $6-700 tops for a full week of hunting. And the dispersion of these animals will take me all over the country. AK, AZ, CA, KY, IN, IL, CO. I'm looking forward to trying it!
Man, what stage am I in... I wish I knew, or maybe I don't really care too much, I'm not sure. I'm in love with all God's creatures, the outdoors, I love the people whom are drawn together to share the experience. I'm at the stage where I really try to take something from each and every hunt... tangible or intangible. I'm doing the best I can to be the best that I can. I'm trying to take advantage of the opportunities that he Lord has blessed me with in life. I'm trying to help others experience the outdoors and bowhunting so that they may feel the same excitement that I feel. I have two kids that I've hooked on bowhunting and fly fishing both, and to see them kill their first deer would give me as much satisfaction as killing one myself. As for the deer, I'm looking for quality deer. Inches not necessarily the most important but a good representation of the particular species I'm hunting for that area. I guess I'm at the stage where you hike to the peak of the mountain, take out a feather and let the wind carry it where it may. Where it lands determines what you do and what your goals are.
Like most subjects in life, in bowhunting, there are things I know and there are things I don't. I know that I should be more selfish when it comes to hunting spots at the cabin, but in the last three years, I have managed to put two of my best friends on three awesome deer and I wouldn't have it any other way. I know I would have a non hunter/archer cameraman again this year if I hadn't gotten him into the sport in the process last year. I love the prep process as much as the game itself. I know that I am willingly and longingly headed to Double Creek's stage.(my son is 5 weeks old) I know that I have never worked harder in the offseason than this year. I know that I have never hunted harder than last year. What I don't know is where the "line" is on a buck for me, I believe it was Gr8 that used the term "mind's eye" and that's where the buck that I will loose an arrow on lives for now. Up until a year or two ago, hadn't hunted much for does as I was only hunting one property and IMO, it was not in the herd's best interests to take them out. Today, I am fortunate to have access to some great land with lots of yummy does for my freezer. I will be trying to take two this year, one off of land near my home, where most of my focus goes and one on the second annual trip to HNI's twildasin's place in York with Rob. With a little luck, both of these will be on film. Last year, I nearly cashed in on my first self video down at twild's, but at the last second she walked off the frame and then got the shaft. Through the 16 past seasons, I have tried a few different things, but the only constant has been enjoying the outdoors with good friends. I get my share of lone ranger time in the stand, but most Saturday mornings I hunt the cabin land with 5 or 6 other guys knowing that I have at least 3 better spots and that I wouldn't want to be anywhere other than with my friends. From hunting behind the house with my neighborhood buddy at age 13 to filming with Rob at age 29, it's a huge part of hunting to me. I, like Duke, would like to get it done much earlier this season. I would spend more time at home with my wife and new son, but I would also truly enjoy packing up the climber and the camera on any available occasion and joining anyone of about 10 buddies at the treetops.
I'm with Double Creek on this one, I'm at the best "Stage" of hunting there is! I'm all about getting my son his 1st animal with his archery gear. I could care less about anything else at this point, its all about Dominic.
I like this phrase that's been going around here for awhile now, A good "representation of the species"...
